Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada, has announced a $4.3 million gift from the William N. Pennington Foundation in support of workforce training.

The largest gift to TMCC to date will fund the second phase of renovations at its Applied Technology Center and the launch of a Technical Pathways option for high school juniors and seniors. Two classrooms, training lab space, and office space at the center will be dedicated to the technical career program, a dual-credit system that will add technical coursework to the high school curriculum. Students in the program will graduate with a high school diploma and a college certificate of achievement or skills certificate in areas including advanced manufacturing, architecture, energy technologies, unmanned aerial vehicles, and welding. The program will open in the fall of 2016 with fifty eleventh-grade students enrolled at TMCC High School, which is part of the college campus.

"This is a great opportunity for students who haven’t elected to go to one of the signature academies," said TMCC High School principal Melissa Olsen, "and it will let them shine in an area they're talented in while filling an expanding need in the region for skilled technical staff."

"The region is expected to experience significant job growth in the next five years," said Jim New, dean of Technical Sciences, "and the gift from William N. Pennington Foundation will provide high school graduates with the opportunity for immediate employment in well-paying jobs or the option to continue on to college upon graduation."